LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
Academy · Biography & Mythology

Phoenix

Φοῖνιξ

(Φοῖνιξ).

1. According to Homer the father of Europa (Hom. Il. 14.321); but according to others he was a son of Agenor by Agriope or Telephassa, and therefore a brother of Earopa. Being sent out by his father in search of his sister, who was carried off by Zeus, he went to Africa, and there gave his name to a people who were called after him Phoenices. (Apollod. 3.1. § l; Eustath. ad Dionys. Perieg. 905; Hyg. Fab. 178.) According to some traditions he became, by Perimede, the daughter of Oeneus, the farther of Astypalaea and Europa (Paus. 7.4.2), by Telephe the father of Peirus, Astypale, Europa, and Phoenice (Schol. ad Eurip. Phoen. 5), and by Alphesiboea, the father of Adonis. (Apollod. 3.14.4.)

From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.